Current Return on Earning a College Degree

[sanantone]

Due to rising costs, the return on earning a college degree has slightly ticked down to 14%. However, the gap between how much college graduates and high graduates earn remains much higher than it was 30 years ago. The average high school graduate earns $45,000. The average college graduate earns $78,000. Don't ask me how the New York Federal Reserve Bank got these numbers. LOL. If I had to guess the numbers for my state, I'd say that many college graduates could easily get to $60k after several years. A high school graduate would probably make $30k. 



https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfe...tment.html

[bjcheung77]

LOL, It does make me wonder, where do they get the figures from? I'm still looking for an older post where it shows the % of people getting their high school diplomas, associates, bachelors, and higher degrees from 1940's up until now.

[alexf.1990]

Due to rising costs, the return on earning a college degree has slightly ticked down to 14%. However, the gap between how much college graduates and high graduates earn remains much higher than it was 30 years ago. The average high school graduate earns $45,000. The average college graduate earns $78,000. Don't ask me how the New York Federal Reserve Bank got these numbers. LOL. If I had to guess the numbers for my state, I'd say that many college graduates could easily get to $60k after several years. A high school graduate would probably make $30k. 



https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfe...tment.html

This is a sticky topic. The more important number, in my opinion, is the underemployment rate among college graduates. According to the NY Fed, 40% of college-educated workers are in jobs that don't require a college degree. It's probably also important for them to break down "college degree" into categories. Some degrees are undeniably better "investments" than others.

They break down their method of calculating the cost of college in this pdf (https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/...ci20-3.pdf). The main thing that sticks out to me is that the opportunity cost of a college degree represents 80% of its total cost. Tuition costs are only 20%. The Fed estimates that students in college would earn roughly 25k per year if they were in the workforce instead of in college. It seems that students working full time could reduce the cost of their college by 80%, thus dramatically increasing their return on investment. If only there were a forum that helped people attend college while working full time...

[sanantone]

Due to rising costs, the return on earning a college degree has slightly ticked down to 14%. However, the gap between how much college graduates and high graduates earn remains much higher than it was 30 years ago. The average high school graduate earns $45,000. The average college graduate earns $78,000. Don't ask me how the New York Federal Reserve Bank got these numbers. LOL. If I had to guess the numbers for my state, I'd say that many college graduates could easily get to $60k after several years. A high school graduate would probably make $30k. 



https://libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfe...tment.html

This is a sticky topic. The more important number, in my opinion, is the underemployment rate among college graduates. According to the NY Fed, 40% of college-educated workers are in jobs that don't require a college degree. It's probably also important for them to break down "college degree" into categories. Some degrees are undeniably better "investments" than others.

They break down their method of calculating the cost of college in this pdf (https://www.newyorkfed.org/medialibrary/...ci20-3.pdf). The main thing that sticks out to me is that the opportunity cost of a college degree represents 80% of its total cost. Tuition costs are only 20%. The Fed estimates that students in college would earn roughly 25k per year if they were in the workforce instead of in college. It seems that students working full time could reduce the cost of their college by 80%, thus dramatically increasing their return on investment. If only there were a forum that helped people attend college while working full time...

I created a thread on that New York Fed study. On another forum, there was this social science professor who didn't like the methodology because they categorized college vs. non-college jobs based on what people reported, including older people. I don't think it's a big deal. Even if an older individual got a job 30 years ago without a college degree, I think he or she would know if their position now requires a college degree through workplace gossip.